A New Year End Review

Often, December brings a lot of information on doing a year end review, what worked, what didn’t, what you’re grateful for, followed by what you’re calling in for the new year ahead. This is all good and wonderful to ritualize every December, especially around the Winter Solstice.

But this year has been an entirely different kind of year! It’s been clarifying for many, almost forcing us into a collective dark night of the soul. One of the things we know about dark nights of the soul is that there’s no way out but through, however painful, emotional and unpleasant that might be. We’ve all gone through it this year and for some of us, we’re still going through it. In fact, just when I thought I made it through, I found out that I lost my childhood best friend to COVID-19.

And again, despite the tremendous heartbreak, the true beauty of the dark night experience is the clarity that comes when the light starts to peek, then shine through. For me, I experienced a lot of anxiety in March and April realizing my plans for the year wouldn’t be happening! I’m a planner but this year, without the solid goals, check lists, and benchmarks, and then bring on the pandemic, new safety protocols, and the pain of the world, what’s left? What do you actually have?

You get to see what’s still standing. It’s not all the planning and goal setting, it’s not filling the calendar to the brim with this event and that one...but it is about finding new ways to connect with those you love, even with a simple phone call or a regular zoom; it might be writing a good old fashioned letter (not email) to a friend, it might be feeling incredible gratitude for the state of your health in this moment, no matter what it looks like for you, it might also be reuniting with something you absolutely love to do that seemed frivolous pre-covid, but has now somehow become essential.

We’ve been in deep all year. So instead of the usual year end review, I’d simply invite you to ask yourself who would you most like to connect with? This could be a friend you’ve been meaning to call or a family zoom you’ve been rescheduling. This could even be a desire to connect with yourself, perhaps through journaling or a hot epsom salt soak with just a few drops of lavender or eucalyptus.

And that, Dear Soul is my December invitation to You: a simple wish of further connection.

Sending you so much love as we head into a fresh New Year!